If you can believe this article here: No.http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-the-original-story-2014-10 According to this article, the two driving forces behind the idea of building an electric car with superior performance, equipped with commercial lithium batteries, are Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. The article describes the story that led to the idea of an electric supercar, the founding of Tesla Motors and the construction of the Tesla Roadster. And I find it. So the role of Elon Musk in the development of the decisive innovations is much smaller than often assumed here. Of course: Musk was the first major investor, he got in a year after the company was founded, and he managed to get more investors on board. Without Musk, Tesla would probably not exist anymore. But without Eberhardt and Tarpenning, Tesla would probably never have existed;-) If you could believe the article, Musk was at the start of the project. Tesla is far more concerned with his role in Space-X and the situation that he would soon be the father of twins. The article is really very exciting.